5 Expenses of Starting an Online Store

Are you in the process of starting an online store? Do you hope to get up and running in the near future? Are you familiar with some of the expenses you’ll face, but worried that you could be overlooking others?

As the owner of an online store, you shouldn’t expect to reach your goals without spending any money. Instead, you need to set a budget and stick to it.

For example, you may find yourself spending money on ecommerce ebooks. Or maybe you realize that you need to hire a credit repair service before you begin spending more money.

No two online stores are the same, but there are some expenses that typically come into play. Here are five that you need to familiarize yourself with from the start:

Website Design

You can’t have an online store if you don’t have a website. This is why you need to budget accordingly for the design of your store.

Website Builder Expert notes that it can cost anywhere from $3k to $15k for a professionally designed website. However, if you add in ecommerce functionality, this number can be even higher.

Tip: Don’t just hire anyone to build your website. You need to hire an individual or agency with experience building online stores.

Marketing Budget

In a perfect world, all you would have to do is build a website. From there, traffic would flow and sales would trickle in.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the way the online world works. In fact, you need to work hard if you’re going to reach the top of your industry.

The best thing you can do is set a marketing budget, all with the idea that you’re going to spend every dollar wisely.

Online Advertising

For many online store owners, online advertising is foreign. Just the same as crypto tokens, they don’t know the first thing about getting started.

If you find yourself in this position, you should first learn more about the many advertising platforms. From there, you can turn your attention to your budget.

Top Draw, for instance, notes that the average CPC for a Facebook ad is $.27. This doesn’t sound like a lot of money until you realize that you’ll want to drive as much traffic to your website as possible.

Online advertising can set you back quite a bit of money, but it can also help you grow your business if you find a way to generate a positive return on investment (ROI).

Office Space

There is no denying the fact that you can operate an online store from the comfort of your home. At the same time, there are people who don’t want to do this for one reason or another.

If you’re interested in renting office space, don’t forget that it’ll cost you hundreds (or maybe even thousands) of dollars per month.

According to Market Watch, office space goes for anywhere from a couple dollars per square foot to six or more. This depends on many factors, including locations and amenities.

For example, office space in New York City or San Francisco will cost you more than it would in Pittsburgh or Cleveland.

An Assistant

At first, you may be able to tackle all aspects of your online store. Over time, however, you realize that you need some help.

Upwork, a leading global freelancing platform, says that it costs anywhere from $18 to $35/hour to hire a virtual assistant.

You don’t have to take on this expense when starting an online store, but it could be something you need soon enough.

Final Thoughts

These are just a few of the many expenses associated with starting and running a successful online store.

If you plan for these, you’ll find yourself in a better position to make informed decisions that put you on track to reaching your goals.

Even though you’ll make some mistakes along the way – as this is all part of being a business owner – you shouldn’t let it get you down. There’s a solution to every problem.

What are your thoughts on launching an online store? Do you have enough money to get your business up and running, or will you need to search for outside funding? Share your past experiences and knowledge in the comment section below. Your feedback can help aspiring store owners make better choices.